International Tropical Fruits Network (TFNet) and Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI) held a meeting on 10 January 2018 at the TFNet headquarters to discuss possible collaborations on projects or activities.
The meeting was attended by 4 TFNet staff and 6 CABI staff, including TFNet CEO Dr. Desa Hassim and CABI Regional Director Dr. Sivapragasam Annamalai.
CABI has been an Associate Member of TFNet since 2001. One of the projects between the two organizations was the development of the Malaysian Tropical Fruit Information System (MTFIS). The website and app were one-stop shops for for tropical fruit information.
After reviewing TFNet’s 2015-2020 Strategic Plan, CABI hopes to work with TFNet on projects related to pest and diseases. The following focus areas for collaboration were identified during the meeting:
1. Awareness drive.
TFNet and CABI will co-organize workshops, seminar, or conferences to improve awareness. This includes the forthcoming regional conference on pest and diseases of tropical fruits with an expert consultation on banana diseases with CABI’s experts as a side event.
2. Information database
CABI will help improve TFNet’s tropical information database, by including more information on pests and diseases. It was suggested to link the database to CABI’s Plantwise Knowledge Bank.
3. Surveillance on pests and diseases on selected tropical fruits for improving market access
CABI will collaborate with TFNet on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) studies for selected countries. The study will identify biosecurity issues affecting member countries and the required SPS by importing countries. The findings will be compiled and published.
